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Technical director of grassroots development, Piet Hubers stresses the need for proper guidance from a young age as the third edition of the Reliance Foundation Young Champs final selection camp continued on Friday. Day 3 of training marked the halfway point of the weeklong camp as the 80 selected children looked to show their ability and mettle to coaches, hoping to become a part of the prestigious RFYC programme.

“Everything starts with a good coach. A good coach guides the player from an age when they must start playing football to become a good player. The most important quality should be looking to improve. Even if a grassroots player trains once a week, he should be looking to improve. A good coach and proper guidance is important because they teach the right things at the right age,” Hubers said.

The third day saw the youngsters make their way to Fr. Agnel Ground by 7:30 am for the morning session. The 90-minute session began with a quick warmup for the hopefuls before being put through passing and shooting practice drills. They then competed in 7-v-7 matches before returning to Beverly Park for breakfast and recovery.

The afternoon session post-lunch in the auditorium at Beverly Park witnessed the youngsters being tutored on how to adapt in different formations and systems. They were also briefed on tactics and shown 7-v-7 videos to offer them a better understanding of how a cohesive 7-a-side team functions.

The aspiring talents then returned to Fr. Agnel Ground at 5:30 pm for the evening session. After a short warmup, they were segregated into teams of seven for a 7-a-side tournament to gauge how much they had picked up from the theory session earlier in the afternoon. The session ended at 7 pm after all the youngsters had played their hearts out on the pitch, while the coaches evaluated them.